Vegan Birthday Cake Donuts

Healthy vegan birthday cake donuts that are easy to make and taste like they’re from the bakery! No one will know that these baked vanilla cake donuts are healthy, low in sugar, and vegan!

Well, my friends, I’ve nailed it. I’ve created a vanilla donut so good, every single person that sampled (read: ate the entire donut) was convinced I bought them from the local donut shop, let alone that these were in fact…

Vegan birthday cake donuts!!!

You see, they have that bakery-oven taste to them- like there was no other possible explanation for their inception than your traditional bakery!

I was even asked to provide proof that I did indeed make mess of the kitchen these vanilla cake donuts. Unfortunately, this recipe is so dang easy that there wasn’t really a mess to prove them I made the donuts myself!

Thankfully, these beautiful yet easy baked donuts were freshly decorated, so I had not gotten a chance to wash the dishes, which were sitting amuck in the sink haha! Saved by the fact that my Virgo nature stepped aside for just a second!

Once they saw the proof in my once clean sink, they believed me…and made me make a second batch…and a third…and a fourth!

I’m telling you, these vegan funfetti donuts are basically crack because you just can’t stop at one!

Let me break it down for you: these healthy vanilla donuts are insanely easy to make, are completely dairy free, refined sugar free, vegan, and can be made gluten free, and contain absolutely no yeast, yet taste like a freaking birthday party in a bite!

And yes, these no yeast baked donuts rise as if they were just the opposite!

Have I got your attention now? 😉 Let’s go over what goes into these healthy baked donuts, and then I’ll teach you how to recreate them bakery style!

Vegan Birthday Cake Donuts Ingredients

Flour: you can absolutely use gluten free flour here if you’d like to make these healthy baked donuts gluten free and vegan! I personally use organic white flour, which isn’t much more expensive than regular flour, so I highly recommend checking that out!

Nutmeg: ahhhh the secret ingredient! This is what makes these vegan vanilla cake donuts taste like they came from a bakery! A not-to-miss ingredient!

Coconut Sugar: I find coconut sugar to be the best substitute for regular sugar in these donuts, but if you don’t mind having baked donuts with regular sugar, just swap in 2/3 cup sugar instead of 1/2 cup!

Unsweetened Applesauce: another secret ingredient that goes into all of my vegan cake and cupcake recipes!

Coconut (or Almond) Milk mixed with ACV: this stands for apple cider vinegar, which essentially creates a vegan buttermilk for these vegan birthday cake donuts! If you don’t have ACV, you can absolutely swap in regular vinegar! Just don’t use balsamic 😉

Vanilla: well you wouldn’t be able to have vanilla cake donuts without the vanilla!

Vegan Butter: I think this is also what adds to the birthday cake flavor of these easy baked vegan donuts- you can totally swap in coconut oil here, but I prefer the vegan butter! Highly recommend Miyoko’s for this, as their vegan butter tastes the best in my opinion.

Rainbow Sprinkles: it’s not a birthday without the rainbow sprinkles! Plus, aren’t the colors just so fun!?

How to make baked donuts without yeast

Making these no yeast baked donuts is beyond easy, you’re going to love them! All you’ll need equipment-wise is a donut pan, a hand mixer, and a few bowls. That’s it!

Next we’ll start with the dry ingredients, move to the wet and then put it all together!

Make the batter

First, preheat the oven and then grease the donut pan with a little coconut oil or olive oil.

Next, whisk the flour, nutmeg, baking powder, and baking soda together in a large bowl. Set this bowl aside and grab a second bowl for the wet ingredients.

Using a hand mixer, beat together the coconut sugar, applesauce, melted vegan butter, homemade vegan “buttermilk,” and vanilla until it’s a nice and smooth drippy mixture.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together with a spoon until there are no more flour clumps.

Sprinkle in the sprinkles and mix again.

Next, pour the batter into each donut pan until about 3/4 of the way up. Save half of the batter for the next batch (or just get 2 donut pans ha!).

Bake the donuts for 18-20 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean, and then repeat for the remaining batter.

Then let your donuts cool completely before frosting!

Make the vegan frosting

When your vanilla cake donuts have cooled, now it’s time to make the vegan vanilla glaze!

Now, you could just dip them into some melted coconut butter and call it a day- this will keep these healthy vanilla donuts free from all refined sugar.

However, I personally love a traditional glaze or frosting, so what I did was beat together some powdered sugar, a little coconut milk, and some more vanilla!

Super easy and effective. Then just dip the vegan birthday cake donuts into the frosting one at a time and top with sprinkles 🙂

Then devour! These easy baked vegan donuts are great for all occasions, not just birthdays! Make them for a party, a brunch, or even just because- I mean, who wouldn’t love to wake up to vegan funfetti donuts on a Monday morning!?

I hope you love these healthy baked donuts as much as I do! Let me know how they go over in the comments below (I’d be eager to know if anyone thought you were lying about making them yourself ha!!), and of course, I look forward to seeing your beautiful recreations on Instagram and Pinterest 🙂

Happy baking and sprinkling!

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Hi there!

My name is Britt, and welcome to the Banana Diaries! Here you’ll find healthy plant based dessert recipes that are delicious and nutritious! Not to mention, always made with love. The Banana Diaries is the good vibe tribe, so if you’re into that, stick around!